I am pleased to announce that Lexie's 2nd Birthday Cowgirl Party was a success. It was so much fun and so much work, but I like to think that this city girl pulled off a very country themed Cowgirl party. The theme was decided pretty early on this year thanks to Lexie's love of Jessie the Cowgirl from Toy Story.

So, after a gallon of red and white paint, lots of cardboard and burlap, and a 50 mile journey with 10 bales of straw, Lexie's party was a lot of fun, and actually pretty damn close to what I had envisioned. Here are some of the details photographed by my wonderful sister in law Tricia Russell.

WelcomeThis sign was made from a pallet that I painted red and then sketched what I wanted written with chalk and then painted with white. This actually only took about an two hours, including time for the paint to dry.

The Barn doors I loved them! This was my idea that my dad helped me construct. It was fairly simple, we put two pieces of cardboard together, taped them and painted!

Duarte Family RanchAll of the signs I made were cardboard that I painted. The bunting was burlap and red paper strung on twine.

The CakeThe cake was made by my sister Melinda Martinez. It was delicious! The top layer was red velvet and the bottom layer was chocolate with Bavarian cream! YUMMY!

Tissue PomsI love tissue poms, these were actually recycled from the Berry Sweet baby shower I threw last month. It saved me tons of time this time around!

BuntingI painted Happy Birthday Lexie onto burlap and strung them over the archway. Every table had a red table cloth with a burlap runner, I tried to stick with this throughout the entire party.

The Invite

The CenterpiecesFor the centerpieces I wanted to keep it simple. Simple flowers in vases, and I bought frames from the dollar store and used the amazing pictures from Lexie's Cowgirl photo shoot. My family likes to take my centerpieces home, so this time I thought they could take a framed picture of Lexie to put in their house.

Wanted postersThanks to Facebook, I was able to "steal" pictures of the guests and input them onto a "Wanted" poster, this was a favor for them to take home.

Saloon DoorsMore cardboard and paint! The kids absolutely loved running through them all day!

Rope nameThis was one of my favorite decorations! I saw the rope name idea originally from this party, and I loved it! This was made from some rope laying around and Elmer's glue.

The General Store-The favorsFor favors we had Cheese popcorn, Candy apples, granola bars, fruit snacks, chocolate covered pretzels, red and pink starbursts and red vines, ready to make s'mores in a bag (not pictured because they had to stay refrigerated so they wouldn't melt), a Toy Story coloring book with paint, a bandanna and a pink or brown cowboy hat.

The Watering Hole had Lemonade and Raspberry Iced Tea, we also had juices, soda and water. I also made water bottle labels, I will try to put the files I created onto my next post.

The foodThe corn chowder and the roast beef sliders were the favorites, but everything was so yummy!

Goody BagsI found bags with Jessie and Woody from Toy Story, and then made tags that read, "And as the years go by, our friendship will never die, you've got a friend in me. Thank you for coming to my birthday. Love, Alexis Jessie Duarte"(Jessie is really her middle name)

Misty the PonyYou can't have a Cowgirl party without a pony. We had a beautiful pony named Misty visit the party for all of the kids to take a ride on. The pony was from PonyPalsFarms, if you are in need of Ponies or Petting zoo's in Southern California I highly recommend them.

Lexie LOVED the pony! I was so relieved, this was not her first time on a pony, but I just feared that she would not want to get on this time. It was the opposite in fact, she cried when she had to give the other children a turn, and kept saying, "Kiki's turn!" (Kiki is what she calls herself..)

Lacey looked like such a natural around the pony. She loved riding her, and when she wasn't riding her she was walking along as the other kids took a turn.

My very handsome nephew Dylan

The girls' cousins Nicky and Jeremy each had a turn on the pony as well.

One of the highlights for the kids was getting to help brush the pony.

My nephew Dylan looks like he's channeling John Wayne right here.

Of course these guys had to make an appearance! Bullseye, Jessie, Buzz and Woody!

This was supposed to be a photo op area. I had a sign nearby that read "Get yer mug taken" But it was so hot that day, I don't think anyone wanted to sit and pose.. LOL

Another close up of the cake. This site is where I got the idea for the cake, however, I didn't realize that the frosting was black! For future reference I now know that black frosting is not the best idea.. But the cake was so good, and looked exactly the way I wanted.

The gifts are always fun, and Lexie is very blessed to have such an amazing family that will show up and help her celebrate her birthday. Thank you everyone.

Lacey had her eye on the candy apples all day! She waited patiently and shared with her Nana.